I've noticed more and more people offering BJJ grades over the Internet, so far Gracie Academy, Eddie Bravo and WBJJA (probably others)....

I find this quite disturbing and makes our beloved art look cheap as shit and is also an insult to those of us who go to a respected gym with a respected/genuine instructor and have had to fight hard - blood, sweat tears and all - before we got our grades.....
..

*Is a degree from the Open University worthless because it is done via "distance learning"? No of course not.

*Does the existence of bogus colleges and universities in the UK offering degrees & other qualifications in anyway demean or degrade the qualifications people get from recognised establishments? No of course not.

*Are people basing their reaction on gut feel or hard fact, having researched what the Gracie Academy and Eddie are actually offering? Probably gut feel...

Since one of the key bits of info people have to submit to the informal register is what club they are with and who gave them the belt, we should still be able to weed them out.

These people will be found out pretty quick cos they'll know in their hearts that they can't "walk the walk" ...the odd beginner may be taken in but with all the info on the net these days I can't see them being fooled for long.

The first thing i think we should do is to stop any of these guys having their grade on the UKBJJ verified belt thread,that list will become a way of seeing if a belt is legitimate or not,so they should be kept off it.

I agree. Online gradings look like a money making enterprise by greedy instructors getting on the back of the MMA/Grappling phenomenon.

We have seen bullshit adverts in the past for " get a karate blackbelt in a year" bullshit. Lets not have it with BJJ.

Although i would love to see an internet purple/brown belt get smoked by a white belt in a gym. That would be priceless....

But how many Karate Organisations are there?
Which ones are legitimate?
Why were so many formed?
Which one is run to be completely free of profit?

Now replace the word Karate with "Taekwondo",and then "Kung Fu" and then
"Judo".

The only way for an organisation of this type to work is if it is completely
democratic.The problem is democracy can get in the way of profit.

I really hope this type of organisation can exist in Great Britain and there are other people like myself who also want it to happen and are working very hard on it.Democracy is the key but i don't know another Martial Art in this country that hasn't suffered from in-fighting,splits and arguments when
forming federations.I truly hope BJJ could be the first.

I really hope this type of organisation can exist in Great Britain and there are other people like myself who also want it to happen and are working very hard on it.Democracy is the key but i don't know another Martial Art in this country that hasn't suffered from in-fighting,splits and arguments when
forming federations.I truly hope BJJ could be the first.